The company revealed on its blog Monday that the Super Bowl stream did account for over 3 percent of total network traffic Sunday evening. But that was more than outweighed by people who decided not to tune into Netflix and other forms of online entertainment, and watch the game on their TV instead – for which there was no easy online option, as Sandvine noted:

“At Sandvine’s we’ve long maintained that the biggest screen is always the best screen to consume content, and for the Super Bowl it makes sense that most people would prefer to watch the game on their large HDTV. Since the only option to stream the game was via a web browser, getting the game streaming to their TV would have been a challenge for most people, so unsurprisingly viewers opted to tune in via their cable or satellite provider.”

One should probably add that the Super Bowl was also available via free over-the-air for cord cutters with an antenna. Still, there were some noteworthy blips during the evening when people went online to stream:

Sandvine also noted that the availability of free streams may have an impact on people’s expectations, even if they don’t use them en masse just yet:

“Sandvine’s traffic statistics have shown continued growth in adoption of live streamed sports events, but for the time being it is no threat to replace viewing via traditional broadcast methods. It is clear however that live streaming is only going to get more popular, and if free streaming is being provided for the biggest television event of the year, then users will soon start expecting it to be offered for everything they watch.”